Once more unto the breach as the fans of Dublin and Mayo travel to Croke Park with trepidation and hope in equal measure.
Once again there is not a seat to be had and two corporate tickets on eBay had risen to €8,100 for the pair and had attracted 35 bids at the time of writing.
The consensus is that Dublin left it behind them the last day. So did Mayo. Dublin can play better; so can Mayo. It is hard to separate the teams and the weather might not be very different.
The final was played in wet conditions, the forecast for the replay is not dissimilar with a showery afternoon in prospect.
For Dublin it is the goal of two in a row. For Mayo it will be the eighth final since the last time they won in 1951.
Superfans
Undaunted by this seemingly eternal wait, Mayo’s superfans will still travel en masse.
Among the vast Mayo diaspora to dig deep is John Gardiner Jr, a native of Birmingham with Mayo parents, who has spent €25,000 following Mayo over the last six years. He missed the All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary as his infant son Willie Joe (named after former Mayo All Star Willie Joe Padden, who else?) became ill.
The figure for this year is €4,000 and counting. He jokes that The Auld Triangle, a watering hole on the way to Croke Park, is now his local. He will be there again today.
"My wife is long suffering but she knows we are all on the chase for the holy grail, the Sam Maguire. I will be able to die a happy man though I'm only 35 years of age."
Much closer to home the McAuley-McDonald family in Cabra have only a short walk to Croke Park. Their home in Broomridge Road is a shrine to the Dubs. You can hardly miss the light blue and navy streamers and the replica of the Sam Maguire on top of the porch.
Fabled curse
Rosemary McAuley (50), her husband and four of her adult children will be in Croke Park.
There are just two survivors of the Mayo team that won the All-Ireland final in 1951. Paddy Prendergast was the full-back on that fabled team, and he has no time for loose talk about the fabled curse that has dogged the county since 1951. What would he do if Mayo finally won Sam after all these years?
“I would die happy. That’s all I can say,” he told Irish TV.
